Miss Magus
by Saitama-sama
Summary: She watched from afar. He slowly came closer.
1. Chapter 1

She watched him. Day after day. He never noticed really. Only when she did some new spellwork or move would he approach and ask questions or to be taught it. But he did this with the others as well, so she didn't consider herself special.

The reason behind why she watched his progress was because she was so fascinated by the sheer genius and effort he put during the few weeks of his teachings - by mentor and self. It was funny how while he put all he could into learning about them and their works, and yet he had no idea what they were or what they did. He didn't know that there were Defenders, Protectors, Healers, Teachers, and Helpers. He didn't know that every one of them had their place so they could work efficiently in an operation. Nor did he know of their true face - the fact that they defended and nurtured the cosmos and beyond.

To sum it all, he no idea what he was getting into.

Of course, she herself did not know anything of them when she was embraced by their open arms. All she knew was that they could help her, so she immediately ditched her previous life to get it. She never felt so content and accepted the moment she was given a room and bundle of clothing to wear. Sleep that night was incredibly soothing and tranquil, and next morning was first time she woke up feeling so alive in years. She still remembered being so closed minded in the past. So stupid. So… lost.

Years ago, she had a job, money, fame, so called 'friends', and yet no life. And every single day she would wake up to a feeling of emptiness. Even the love of acting abandoned her heart. At first, acting was enjoyable and distracted her. It had been something she used to adore doing. Then, she slowly lost her spark, and it became like a chore. It was like some puppeteer attached strings on her and began controlling her decisions. She became someone else entirely. Family was easily disposed and left behind. Genuine friends slowly slipped out of her life by her cold facade. Living in isolation began to wear her out. She gave it her all - sacrificed everything for it - just to give it all away. Having no purpose in life was like being alive without living. Depression was her downfall.

Seeing Stephen, or Dr. Strange as he arrogantly likes to be called by strangers, throw himself into situations in which he had no control over was entertaining _and_ motivating. Some spells that he had tried that out of his league in the courtyard sometimes blew up or caused some kind of other damage. The amount of punishments he would accumulate over the time of his occupation was astounding, but that didn't keep him from continuing to practice them. He had no limitations and no plans of slowing down. That's why she watched. Everyone noticed his potential, but she more so.

The fact that he was one of the best, if not _the_ best, surgeon in the world might've helped pique her interest as well. She was not unaware of his selfish ways though. That he would only pick the options that he knew would succeed and not tarnish his perfect reputation made her disgusted in the past, but she knew that she couldn't be hypocritical and judge him for his faults because she too had them. Maybe even worse, others might say. Leaving and ignoring your family for a decade certainly was something that couldn't be dismissed so easily. She left because her family was drug addicts, alcoholics, and felons. They desperately needed help, but she up and left anyway, and she hated herself for it. She moved out to California because she knew that if she stayed she would never improve her life. Her family was holding her down, and she was slowly being rung out by the abundance of issues and complications they had created, but those excuses did not justify from her actions.

Being a witness of Stephen overcoming his demons day in and day out made her feel so discouraged and broken - as if she had made no progress whatsoever throughout the year and had already been defeated. ' _She couldn't forgive herself, she wasn't strong enough to move on_ ' and ' _I can't_ 's were her daily mottos, until she grew tired once again for allowing her progress to deteriorate at such a short span. No one was going to bring her down - willing or not, and so that very day she looked at herself in the mirror and said, " _ **Enough**_ ".

Everyday after that she would stare at her reflection and tell herself that same demand.

She rose and kept on rising.

AN: Hey. I'm in dire need of a beta, so if anyone out there is willing to improve my atrocious writing, I would be so grateful. Also, I have two other fanfictions are in progress! One is a Naruto and One Punch Man crossover, and the other is a Narnia and Thor crossover. So stay tuned.

P.s. It's short, but I'll try to make them sweet.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephen was causing trouble again. She could feel it. There was too much energy in the air, and it was making her very anxious. Now wasn't a good time to get distracted.

She was currently sitting in one of the desks reviewing through the spells that she had learned from the past weeks when the temperature spiked. She looked up from her studies and spied on the ex-surgeon who sat a few feet ahead. She sighed and palmed her face when she realized what he was doing. The man was once again attempting to master a high-level spell that was nowhere near his level. Some of their peers had years on Stephen, and yet weren't capable to accomplish casting the spell. How in the cosmos would a novice be able to do it if the others couldn't?

While he kept practicing for about an hour with no progress whatsoever, his face kept becoming more agitated with every try. Some time later, he finally looked like he had enough, and stood up abruptly. The chair toppled over with the action. He mumbled to himself and shook his hands, trying to get rid of the increase of trembling that gathered in them. Then, he just stood in the same position for a few minutes staring at them, turning them over and over. She looked on with interest. Slowly, his face melted into an expression of serenity. He breathed in with his eyes closed and lifted his calmer hands into the necessary position of spell and began concentrating.

A few moments passed. Nothing happened. He dropped his hands and slumped back in his chair in defeat. She slowly breathed out, not noticing that she held her breath in anticipation while witnessing the whole scene. She sincerely believed that he would be able to make some sort of progress, but became disappointed when it turned out to be another failure. Perhaps she would be able to give him some tips…

No, no. Let him struggle.

It's his journey. Don't get involved.

Yet, her body had other ideas. She slowly stood up and removed herself from her chair. Stephen glanced around from his hands covering his face to see what the noise was about, but turned around almost right away after he decided it was nothing of importance. She took a steps and stopped, but after resolving herself about the decision, she walked to his right up to back and tapped his shoulder softly. He grumbled and swatted at it until he realized it was an actual person that was acquiring for his attention and not some bug that was pestering him. He looked up and raised his brows in question.

She tapped her head.

He looked bewildered. As if no one had ever bothered to interrupt in his studies.

"Excuse me-"

She quickly shook her head.

"Ah, no english?" He asked.

She quickly decided that she would let him believe that she was incapable of understanding his language. It would limit her interaction with him, so she nodded with an uncertain face, pretending to be confused by what he was saying. He hmmed and motioned with his hand to continue. She attempted to get her message across by tapping the steps and rituals on the book, all the seven main chakras of the body, and then her hands, but he looked even more confused by her actions. Taking another step further to explain, the former actor began one of the basic spells and pretended to put all her effort into it. Of course, she looked incredibly stupid and constipated by it, but really thought it was necessary to do this in order to get him to understand.

"Nope. Still not getting it."

Patiently, Magus looked around and spotted a sheet of paper and a tool to write with. She sketched out the basic anatomy of a human in a cross legged position and jotted down the seven chakra points. She pointed at all of the circled areas and trailed them to the hands. She picked the writing utensil once more and drew what looked like light or energy around them.

"Oh, I see," he stated lowly as he analyzed the procedure and the reason behind why she did it, and then finally realized what she had tried to convey all that time. His eyes lit up with the new found grasp of knowledge. He stood up once more, but this time with determination, hands shaking more with excitement.

"Oh! Oh! I've got it! I understand! Yes! Finally!"

Stephen pushed all of the books to the corners of the desk, which caused some papers and items dropped to the floor. He grabbed some random spellbook on a nearby pile and flipped through the pages. Suddenly, he stopped, and went back a few pages to one that he quickly dismissed, fingering it with confidence. He slowly sat down the book in the middle of the desk while eyeing the page and lifted his hand to begin.

Magus peeked at the spellbook and backed to the side to give him some more room. The ex-surgeon was attempting to produce a teleport hole.

Stephens started rotating his hand out in a circle, and kept the other behind in the required position near himself. A few sparks spat out of his fingers, but nothing more when he continued.

He did this for a few minutes very stubbornly and persistent. Magus decided that she wasn't needed, so she departed the library and left the man to his business.

Stephen never noticed her lack of presence.

AN: Magus isn't interested in a romantic relationship. She was just so invested in his progress and kept comparing it to her own. She wants some companionship, but she doesn't know it herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Stephen acted as if he completely forgot their encounter the next day. From having forgotten or just didn't care might have been some reasons. He went about his normal schedule: eating while reading, meditating, practicing martial arts - the usual (not that she noticed or anything). It was like she hadn't helped him at all, but she too had not bothered to approach him for the second time, and took some of the blame for that as well. For what reason would she anyway? She didn't have the guts to just stroll up and say, "Hey, I helped you out the other day. How's your progress?"

Hah. Her humongous ego and obnoxious character had been starved and beaten by the life of a Protector and Defender to the point that it almost didn't exist. The Teachers too had a part in it as well. Some Masters were of the temple were dealt with so well from the start of their teachings that they were still hesitant to interact with them, even when they were stronger or had a higher position than most of them combined.

She then remembered later on that she shouldn't be able to speak English at all, so that was another thing that kept her from communicating with him. It would be so humiliating if he ever found out that she was lied to him just to avoid gaining his interest. Ahem, in an un-romantic way was what she meant to imply. No need for a man to come around and cause more of a mess in her life. She was just starting to get it sorted out. A friend, on the other hand, might be appreciated. Maybe.

Magus sat heavily on of the benches along the paths leading to the sacred gardens, and folded her legs into the meditating formation. She always felt more comfortable on a seat or cushion of some kind than just sitting on the bare floor. The bare, hard ground is nice and all, but would she pick a seat over it? Sure, no contest.

… _Aaaand_ there you go, some more of her spoiled side was showing. It used to be an issue in the beginning, and many of her peers pointed out her obvious irritation and lack of concentration in the first sessions of meditation, but eventually she was able to get over it. What kind of magic practitioner can't meditate? None, that's who, and she sure as hell wasn't going to be the first one. She didn't need to add another thing to her list of failures. It was impressive enough by itself.

She opened her eyes after a lengthy two hour meditation, and blinked a fews times to adjust to the sun's radiant rays and remove the bleariness that had formed in them. Magus stood on her feet, then bent her back forwards and touched the tips of her feet without bending her knees. She got back up a few inches and repeated the process once more, but each time with outcomes more steeper and steeper than before. The back of her knees burned with exertion. Magus practiced more yoga and flexibility positions on the grass to maintain her body status, but when she went back up from a very straining stance to shift to another one, she paused to see Stephen randomly strolling down the path with a book in hand flicking through the pages with the other every few seconds. Actually reading or skimming through the pages, she didn't know.

She perked up when he stopped at the point where the path divided into two directions and eyed the opposite direction, but wilted when he continued towards the one she had walked down over two hours ago. _Can I have some peace?_ She begged. _Just a whole single day to myself?_

Apparently not. It seemed he was everywhere she was. Was this a coincidence? Magus hoped so.

Wishing fervently that he wouldn't notice and recognize her, she turned around in a direction where he wouldn't be able to identify her, and assumed the exercises. Magus watched him in the corner of her eye stride up, and tensed in anticipation.

Finally, she felt the shadow of his form upon her back...

...and slip away a moment later.

She turned around to investigate, and spotted him already meters away and gaining.

He had passed her.

He didn't even realize she was there.

 _Well._

AN: I'm going to come back and edit this later, but I just wanted to send this out for an awesome reviewer who asked me to update as soon as possible! Thank her for this quick chapie 'cause I was going to post this much later.


	4. Chapter 4

It had only been a little over a week and Stephen had already improved by leaps and bounds. Although, when she says, "leaps and bounds" what she really means is the, "teleported all the way to Apprentice level" kind of improvement. Like, is there anyone out there who can explain what is happening? One day, he was shooting out pathetic sparks during the sessions, (and even that was very impressive when he had only a few weeks of experience), and the next, he was able to create a perfect mid-level spell! Magus could've sworn that his previous failure in magic was just an act so he could later rub his ease with spells in our faces _._

Stephen was attending the same class she did at the time, and not to her surprise, she stood only a few feet away from him. His sudden success resulted with her spell fizzling out of existence and dropping her hands in shock. She was absolutely floored. He had produced a spell that required months of practice without strain or intense concentration! Now that was taking 'being a natural' to a whole new level.

Their session mentor went up to him and asked for him to stop. He demanded Stephen do it all over again to see if it was just beginner's luck. Three attempts later, and his spells were _still_ one of the most solid and strongest mid-level spells she had ever seen anyone create. Kaecilius had nothing on this guy, and even he was a protégé in magic, (despite being super evil).

She briefly wondered if Stephen would end up like Kaecilius, but she immediately dismissed the thought, scorning herself, _What in the- No. This is insane. Not even a prestigious sorcerer can be this good in twenty four hours… but just imagine what he could be if he continued to improve this drastically over short periods of time._ She shuddered at the thought while practicing her sets and katas. Their teacher had allowed them to practice whatever they desired, so she had decided to touch up on her physical strength.

 _In a year... man._ Magus internally whistled.

 _He'd be a monster._

._-~°•`*' ^ '*`•°~-_.

Stephen eventually stopped attending sessions a few weeks later, after having mastered all that he could from their class's level. If she ever stayed behind to practice after the sessions in the courtyard, she would be able see him participating in class with the higher level students. Even there, he became the best in no time.

 _Still_ , she wondered. _What had changed in order for him to get that good?_

Magus thought back to everything she had noted that was unusual that involved him, and recalled one instance when the Ancient One appeared during their practice and dismissed everyone but Stephen from the area. Unfortunately, she was one of the first to leave since she had been situated in the front lines. She had been wondering what could have occurred during her trip back to her quarters, when one of her peers informed her that they had seen him looking like he had come out of the Antarctic earlier.

They described him exiting the area in an exhausted, freezing state and holding himself like some traumatized patient while trudging to his room. Apparently, he had literal icicles formed in his beard and snow clinging to his clothing...

Which was nothing out of the ordinary, really.

._-~°•`*' ^ '*`•°~-_.

Magus licked her lips to get rid of the excess food that had escaped the bread which she was cleaning the bowl with. Ah, there was nothing more satisfying than a hot, spicy bowl of soup to fill a yearning stomach, in her opinion. She leaned back from the low table and stacked her empty bowls to send them away to whoever had chores in the kitchens. Poor Raja, maybe practicing mind magic on poor, unsuspecting civilians wasn't such a good idea. Especially when the Ancient One was strolling around town on one of her rare days off. Now he had to clean up after the hundred or so people currently eating in the cafeteria. She rose up from the cushions and picked up after herself. Holding onto the eating utensils and dishes, she walked backwards and ended up stepping on something that messed up her coordination.

She stumbled and was about to drop the items in her hold, when she quickly grasped them again with desperation. She might've died with relief when she finally regained grasp of them after fumbling with them for a suspenseful moment. Magus snapped her head down to the floor to see what had interfered with her smooth retreat. She clutched the wooden bowls in irritation.

It was a book.

A really high-level spell book. Like really, really, high. Probably Master level, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that there was a moron amongst them who had left a freakin' book in between the tables where people walked through. A place where people were holding trays of food to serve others. A place where people walk back and forth while holding onto trays of tea and other beverages. So, all in all, the perfect place to not insert any object at all - unless you were waiting for a potential disaster.

Magus turned sharply around towards the only person who could've owned the obscenity. It was the person who was sitting in another table directly behind where she once occupied. She glared slightly at said person and rolled her eyes.

 _This is getting ridiculous._

Stephen was hunched over his meal eating it with vigor. Like always, he had a different book in his other hand. Not surprising because rarely was he seen without one.

At that not so glorious time, Magus made what she didn't know was the biggest decision of her life, and picked up the book to place it on the table right next to his elbow. He glanced up at the motion.

"Hey, it's you. Loop girl." Were his words as he nodded with remembrance.

What.

 _Is he being serious? He nicknames me for my hairstyle?_ _Loop girl? Can it get any stupider?_ Of course she would be named after the looped braid that always adorned the back of her head. She almost twitched with exasperation.

Magus stored it for the later times when she vented out on a dummy, pointed to the book, the floor, and then wagged her finger in a "no, no" style. Stephen raised a brow of superiority, but nodded his head in compliance. Not many had the guts to stand up against the great Doctor Strange, apparently.

"No books on the floor. Got it. See you." He smiled slightly with her departure and patted the book on his left fondly. He turned back to his previous activity, not the kind of person to waste a single moment on what he couldn't gain anything from.

In the halls of their sanctuary, Magus thought, _Okay universe. I get it now. You can stop it with all this, you know. It's getting real old real fast._

 _._~_ °•`*' ^ '*`•°~-_.

The very next day, Magus was approved to move to a higher level class of magic that suited her progress, and was paired with Stephen in the first lesson of the day. She calmly walked up and stood directly in front of him in a sparring position, hands buzzing with energy.

One encounter was normal, two was fine, three times was a little weird, but _four_. Four was starting to somewhat get on her nerves.

 _Like I said before. Real fast._

AN: Thank you for the incredible responses! (Yes, I'm looking at you Marygrace, JinxWriter, FigurativelyDying, ApatheticGamer, ZabuzasGirl, and dragonwraith12!)

Also, thank my new (not that I ever had one before) beta Moonleaf Stormrunner for editing and overall usefulness! Round of applause everyone (if you can't clap, use you pinkies and tap them together instead)! This person deserves some recognition!

Anyway, you all probably wonder why I don't bother you guys for reviews, favorites, or follows. Well, that's because even though I get so excited by every single one of them, I get even happier when you take time out of your life to just read it. Thank you so much. It means a lot.

(Is it weird that I cackle inside every time I notice the rise of favourites and follows? Probably need help or something.)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Magus nodded in acknowledgment, and when Stephen returned the gesture, she swiftly backed away and moved to her right. Stephen countered the movement by taking a few steps to _his_ right, turning his body to keep her directly in his line of vision. This began a few moments of circling while they both analyzed one another for weaknesses - not letting their eyes wander so that they couldn't indicate what their next move would be, but when one gave a hint to make movement, the other would immediately warn them by flaring their aura dangerously.

While much time hadn't passed, it seemed that Stephen had become impatient with the of lack of action, and suddenly created a wip of magic to crack it at her direction. She jumped back from the attack and cupped her glowing hands together to form a sphere of spiraling magic. It was beautiful, with shades of orange and yellow illuminating the shape. Too bad it wasn't the time to admire it. She threw the ball in retaliation, blackening the floor by his hasty dodge. He righted his footing to crack his weapon once more, but downwards aiming towards her legs. She continued dodging his attacks, and Stephen used this opportunity to start to push against her defense.

Magus took his effort to get near her as sign that he wanted to spar physically, rather than magically. She dropped her previous time plan of attack and began assaulting him relentlessly with different forms of martial arts. Krav Maga was what she favored for a painful, brutal fight, so she used this style instead of Aikido to spar with Stephen. Of course, Aikido wasn't soft on it's blows either, but it was a style that defeated enemies or sparring partners with a less effort and movement as possible, which wasn't what she wanted at the moment. Magus purposefully drew out the fight to test his skills on hand to hand combat, and the guy did not disappoint. It seemed he was doing the same with her.

She shouldn't had been surprised, but she was. It seemed the man was gifted in every way possible.

The spar continued for who knows how long, but eventually Magus left herself open for an attack. Her stomach was left open for just a second in order to block a jab made to her face, and she wasn't fast enough to protect below. Stephen took advantage of it and swiftly swung his leg towards her, but stopped a few inches from her ribs. His leg lowered. She flinched, expecting a crucial hit, but nodded in appreciation at the act of mercy and bowed in defeat. He responded by bowing as well and rose to call their mentor, who was analyzing another pair of sparrers in the sidelines. He relayed the results of his spar with some difficulty, as the mentor did not fully understand English.

Their teacher was a Japanese man, named Katsuro, who had been born into the life as a sorcerer, and specialized in martial arts - as stereotypical as it sounded. He was greatly accomplished when he was very young and was quickly given the position as a Teacher to bestow his knowledge upon others. Magus would agree that not all Asians were talented at battling physically, even though most of their Asian sorcerers were (though a few of them assumed that it was in their blood). There were lot's of other races who got the grasp of this field much faster, but they couldn't compare to what Katsuro accomplished in the past.

The mentor assigned them to different partners by pointing at one of them then at other unoccupied individuals, so they parted to different areas of the courtyard.

Stephen paused and narrowed his eyes at her oblivious form before turning his attention to his new partner.

 _._~_ °•`*' ^ '*`•°~-_.

Magus sat at a desk in the library after setting down a few interesting books she had unchained. On her right was a dictionary for runes, while on her left, a few books on body and finger positioning for spells lay. They appeared almost brand new. Not everyone knows that certain positioning could increase a spell's performance, and those who know don't really care for it since they believe it useless when it really isn't. Magus once read on an instruction book from her first days of living in the sanctuary that placing your fingers a specific way could increase your flow of energy (or chakra if you prefer) to form magic. Support with this kind of progress? Yes, please!

She studied, shuffled through scrolls, papers, and notes, went back to check a few other books, and walked around the library to find some more on this topic at few times - not necessarily in that order. Between three or four hours of searching and studying, she finally sat for the fourth time time and began decoding the stack of books she decided would be useful for her research. Magus wasn't a genius in the least, and only had college education until she was lucky enough to get scouted for a role as a small time actress, so a dictionary of some sort was kind of necessary.

She followed a line with her finger while reading until she got stuck on a word that she hadn't read before. She pressed the finger on it and turned to the dictionary to find its definition. She flipped through the pages, ignoring the sound of footsteps approaching near her desk. It was probably one of the rare dozen students that chose to use their time wisely by using the library.

Magus stood up from the chair to find another dictionary that better explained the word's definition, and was going to step out until she found herself face to face with Stephen. She backed up, and thankfully, he didn't follow.

"So I've been wondering for awhile…" He said, and lifted up his finger to wave it around her face. "Why have you been pretending to not understand me? Just curious, you know? It's been bugging me for some time."

She looked at the finger and then at him with fake confusion. He just raised his eyebrows with a look the said, "Lady, you aren't fooling anyone". She sighed and slumped. There was no way Stephan was going to take her crap. It was pretty pathetic crap, she had to admit.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I don't really know myself. It was stupid." She lied. No way was she about to say the truth out loud and sound like an idiot. Uh-uh. No sir-ee.

"Well, that explains everything," he said with a cheerful, sarcastic voice which dropped immediately when he spoke the next words, "Yeah, _no._ You see, it makes no sense. I've never met you before I arrived here, and never done anything to offend you… or have I?"

Magus opened her mouth to decline, but he cut her off.

"Of course, I know that's not the case now. I thought that at first, though, but then I noticed after the spar that you weren't intent on hurting me, so I threw that out the window. Was it my past? Perhaps. Maybe you just don't like me?" He cocked his head side to side. "Most probable. I thought about this for some time and eventually, I got annoyed and decided to approach you. If you don't want to give me an answer, then fine."

Magus pursed her lips in embarrassment, but didn't pick the bait.

He laughed. "It's funny because I've known since the first day you helped me out, but I felt like giving you a sense of security."

Stephen waited for the information to sink in and left. She just stood there in a daze, and blinked when she realized he wasn't there anymore. Magus dropped back into her chair and rubbed her face. She thought back to what had just occurred, grabbed the open book she had been decoding, and began smacking her face against it.

Wong called out from one of the aisles in a booming voice, "Damage that book and you will regret it!"

She jumped and dropped the book in the process, but when she rose to pick the item up, she mistakenly stepped on the book. There was a crack that echoed forebodingly across the room. Magus froze. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes and sighed. Peeking one eye open, she looked down at the volume, and her foot on it's spine. Gingerly, she lifted the text to her face and hesitantly opened the cover. The seams which bound the pages together were torn apart.

"What was that?" Wong called out again.

Dammit all.

AN: Hello, Strangers! (Can our fandom followers be called 'Strangers'? Please start the trend with me! How awesome would that be if we actually started it?) How are you? What's up? You have an awesome week? Just concerned about the well being of my readers. So, I know it's been eleven days, and I'm sorry for that. My excuse is holidays, Black Friday, and our good ol' friend, procrastination. Yeah, not going to even bother make up some acceptable lie.

Thank my beta, Moonley (Moonleaf Stormrunner), for being awesome at her job and really cool person in general (I laugh all the time with her). I enjoy working with her. As for her payment, can all of you blow kisses at the screen when you read this? Thanks. She deserves the love.

Ugh, I keep forgetting to add the disclaimer so here it is:

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Strange or any of the Marvel Universe - cinematic, comic, or otherwise. _Blah, blah, blah._ I sound so bitter over it, don't I? (Disclaimers are going to get tedious. I can just feel it.)

Alrighty, so here come the other thanks. Thank you **Dr Strange lover** (I died of happiness reading your review.), **Guest** (You are so lovely.), **Marygrace** (You again, you awesome being?), **Malorne-10** (Thanks again!), and **JinxWriter** (You too! Thanks some more!) for the amazing reviews. Also, I've checked and there has been 2,000 views on this story. What. The. Heck. You Strangers are so awesome.


	6. Chapter 6

Magus had to find a way to fix the book.

It wasn't an easy task. At all.

Their current Book Keeper, Wong the bas - ahem - basal man (that makes no sense), was new in his position, and didn't have experience in fixing books. He volunteered to replace the last Book Keeper because of his great love and appreciation for them. What helped him was also his immense loyalty to their cause. Everyone knew that his devotion was unrivaled by most. She admired him greatly for it, but that didn't necessarily mean that she liked interacting with him. Wong wasn't an easy person to get close to. Plus, it wasn't like she really want to anyway. _But_ , it was pretty funny when she would get in trouble for her screw ups by him. It wouldn't be at the time of her punishment or lecture, but after, she would lie in bed at night and laugh into her pillow for having another humiliating event occur in her life. Thinking about this also would bring out all the other mortifying memories from the past, so she would attempt to smother herself and end it there.

Back in her younger days, she was so awkward and out of luck that something embarrassing would happen to her constantly. Magus wasn't clumsy or ditzy at all, it's just that there were moments where she would blurt something out that was so stupid or unnecessary, or were inconvenient times where she would be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

She still remembered Wong's reaction when he received the item. Where was her phone she needed it? It was a perfect moment to capture a meme.

After he analyzed the book, Wong explained in not so many words ("No, I can't fix it. Find a way by yourself. _And soon._ ") that he didn't have the capabilities to mend the damage. He denied all excuses and reasons of why she couldn't do it, and returned to reading his stupid book. Magus felt a ball of stress form in her stomach when he handed it back and put on his earbuds. His music blared intensely as he flicked through the pages. She was about to continue to refuse the task, but lost all the will to because she new it was a lost cause.

She stood there not knowing what to do.

Then she noticed something. Something amazing.

"Is that Beyonce?"

His head slowly rotated up, until she was able to see a fierce expression that was exaggerated by one of the lamps that lit the other side of his face, leaving the side facing in her direction shaded.

"No. Leave." He half growled, glaring her until she retreated. She held her hands up and backed up. An unhappy Wong (which was pretty much always) was never a pleasant one. She quickly slipped into the dark and out of the area.

Outside the library, she encountered something strange... uh, pun unintended. It was Stephen with his hand halfway through a portal grabbing onto something. At his feet were a pile of books on the floor. Most of them were volumes that were too advanced for her. She spotted some spell-books on shields, weapons, portals, healing-spells, and counter-spells. The spells varied from high to low, in all different styles and mastery.

Damn Stephen and his over-achieving self.

He continued creating portals and reaching into them to grab the texts, until he brought out a book that she recognized. The book was eerily similar to the one the Book-Keeper had been examining during her visit there. She knew because she read it before and couldn't make much sense of the writing. She still was a few leagues behind.

"Haha. I bet that he's pissed as hell right now. Probably knows it's me." He mumbled while hastily stacking the books into a pile. He looked behind to see if anyone was coming after him (aka Wong) and detected Magus watching him from afar. He hurriedly beckoned her forward. Magus looked around to see if he was communicating to someone else.

"Yes, you! Hurry and help me out. Wong will be out any moment." He hissed, and then said to himself, "Why did I think it was a good idea to do this in front of the library in the first place? I could've done this from my room. Imbecile."

Magus decided that Wong probably wouldn't care if she was an innocent bystander, and jogged to Stephen's mess. She grabbed a stack and lifted up. She set it down almost immediately and smacked her forehead. There were spells for a reason. Magus lifted her hands and levitated the pile, waiting for Stephen to finish fixing the mountain of books and pick them up. She had no idea where he resided in Kamar-Taj, so all she could do is anxiously looked behind her to see if Wong was out already.

He finally finished filing them into order after half a minute and glanced up. He gave a double-take when he realized what she was doing with the magic. He looked at the floating books and back to her hands.

"Where'd you learn to do that? Show me." He demanded, and set down the books.

This guy needed to set his priorities straight, like, _right_ _now_ because she was going to hightail it out of there with or without him. She sure as heck didn't want to get caught by the enraged librarian.

"A really angry Wong is in the library and will be coming out any second. Do you really want to be here when he does?"

"Yeah, you're right." He quickly picked up the pile and jogged out the area. She was relieved when they made it back into the building where their rooms were. She quickly followed him down the halls and they both stopped abruptly when they heard a long, drawn-out:

" _Strange!_ "

The shout echoed through the halls. They could hear stomping that followed.

This prompted them to practically fly to their destination.

Some inhabitants of the building poked their heads out from their rooms to see what the noise was all about and flinched back when they saw the duo sprinting past their rooms and down the hall. They could hear Wong's infuriated hollering quite clearly and wanted a peek at the poor, unfortunate beings who had called upon his wrath. When they identified who the two runners were, they all wondered the same thing.

 _The prodigy and the loner? Never would have guessed._

Once she was in the room, Stephan closed the door in a rush. He sighed and turned to Magus who still had the books hovering their heads.

He gestured to his beds with his head and said, "You can put them there. I'll sort them out in a bit."

She complied and turned to regard him when the deed was done. Magus saw that he was busy ruffling through his clothing, trying to find something in their pockets, so she turned her attention to the room and began analyzing the objects in it. A few more books placed in order in a corner, a closed closet, made-up bed, other necessities. It was surprisingly neat. ( _For a man, ahem... No, just kidding._ ) Like, super neat, kind of neat. Must be a rich person quirk.

"Aha!"

He lifted his hand in victory with a broken watch between his fingers. It looked as if it could've seen better days. He put it on and looked it over. Stephen then turned his attention to her. Magus shifted from foot to foot, still inspecting the dorm, not at all noticing the other occupant beginning to do the same, but to her.

They waited in awkward silence until the ex-surgeon broke it by saying, "Sooo…"

Magus jolted in realization that she was all alone with Stephen in his room. She needed to leave. Immediately.

"Uuh… is it safe to go out or am I going to find Wong at the door when I open it?" She asked while rubbing her neck in a habit of discomfort. She inched towards the exit.

"No, don't worry. He doesn't know where I sleep. Hopefully." He watched the door intently and nodded his head at her when he deemed it safe.

"Okay then. Well… I'll, uh, I'll see you later," She moved to the door and twisted the handle. Stephen called out before she could leave. He shot up from his position, and lifted a finger in a 'pause for a moment' gesture. And she did.

"Wait! Can you teach me how levitate objects with mystic energy or at least tell me where I can find the book?" He asked and waved his hands towards the pile of books she had been suspending into the air earlier.

 _He calls it -_

"Mystic energy," Magus deadpanned, "You call it mystic energy. Why? Why not just call it 'chakra', or 'magic', or even, I don't know, just 'energy'?"

Stephen flapped his hand with an air of disregard. He couldn't care less what it was called, as long as the point got across. He also wasn't fooled by the attempt at distracting him.

"That's besides the point. Are you going to tell me or not?" He half asked, half demanded.

Now that was something she really didn't want to answer. What would it be this time? Run away like a chicken or finally give up avoiding him forever? Give in or run out?

"Alright, since there has been no book that I know of on the topic and the teacher that taught me is unavailable, I'll help you out. A few days from now I think I'll have a few hours to spare. I'll contact you then to tell you if I'm free." She finally replied.

He smiled.

Magus leaned back slightly and looked at him with bewilderness and a pinch of mistrust.

 _He has a nice smile._ She thought. Her cheek twitched. _But I can see a bit of shark in there. It's not at all comforting._

Stephen offered one of his unstable hands. It quaked slightly in mid-air. She grasped it gently, not sure what to do, but he tightened his grip and shook it firmly.

"Then we have an accord."

…

"By the way, you do know that we could've used a portal to travel back to my room."

AN: Yay! We're finally in canon, my dear Strangers! I'm going to do my best to fly through it and get to the Stegus friendship. Stephan needs some close companionship because even though Wong is cool and all, I don't think that he will be willing to giving hugs when Stephen needs it.

Thank you Moonley (Moonleaf Stormrunner) for another betaed chapter that the audience can enjoy more than if it weren't. People, please, give a thumbs up (literally) for her assistance. It wouldn't be this fluent or understandable without her.

Okay, so shout out to **Malorne- 10** for being the only reviewer on the last chapter! *hands out half eaten cheesecake that I have been currently eating* Yay! Shout out to all of you Strangers who favorited, followed, and read this fic too! Love you all!

(You can stop reading here.)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Marvel except my OFC and some concepts that were put in addition. You guys know the rest.

Again, love you all, and hope you enjoyed this.


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